Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611

  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Voodoo Histories: The Role of the Conspiracy Theory in Shaping Modern History

Voodoo Histories: The Role of the Conspiracy Theory in Shaping Modern History

Aaronovitch, David

Paperback

SpeculationGeneral World HistoryHistoriography

ISBN10: 1594484988
ISBN13: 9781594484988
Publisher: Penguin Adult Hc/Tr
Published: Jan 4 2011
Pages: 432
Weight: 0.75
Height: 1.00 Width: 5.40 Depth: 8.10
Language: English
Meticulous in its research, forensic in its reasoning, robust in its argument, and often hilarious in its debunking... a highly entertaining rumble with the century's major conspiracy theorists and their theories. --John Lahr, National Book Critics Circle Award-winning author of Tennessee Williams

From an award-winning journalist, a history so funny, so true, so scary, it's bound to be called a conspiracy.

Our age is obsessed by the idea of conspiracy. We see it everywhere- from Pearl Harbor to 9/11, from the assassination of Kennedy to the death of Diana. In this age of terrorism we live in, the role of conspiracy is a serious one, one that can fuel radical or fringe elements to violence.

For David Aaronovitch, there came a time when he started to see a pattern among these inflammatory theories. these theories used similarly murky methods with which to insinu­ate their claims: they linked themselves to the supposed conspiracies of the past (it happened then so it can happen now); they carefully manipulated their evidence to hide its holes; they relied on the authority of dubious aca­demic sources. Most important, they elevated their believers to membership of an elite- a group of people able to see beyond lies to a higher reality. But why believe something that entails stretching the bounds of probabil­ity so far?

In this entertaining and enlightening book, he examines why people believe conspiracy theories, and makes an argument for a true skepticism: one based on a thorough knowledge of history and a strong dose of common sense.

Also in

Historiography

View All